*
"Well, THAT was interesting…" Sean muttered, squinting at the bright lights of the multiplex lobby. The rest of the group trouped out behind him, most with similarly dazed expressions on their faces. Kirsten looked a little ill, and Dawn was practically twitching in irritation.
"How could she do that? HOW could she let herself get into that situation?" she spat, spinning around to stare at the boys who were nonchalantly leaning against the snack bar.
"How what?" Brian asked, already snapped out of the movie's thrall and studying the Coming Attractions posters.
"Well, first she gets herself trapped, and then she passes by all kinds of weapons as she screams through the house! Because, you know, monsters NEVER go to where all the girly screaming is…" Dawn grumped.
"Like monster Lo-Jack – lost your victim? Oh, there she is! Aaaaargh ummm mung slurp," Alicia snarled, pretending to chew on Kirsten's arm. Kirsten laughed and slapped at her.
"Dawn, it's just a movie. A suspense movie." Eileen's tone was condescending, as usual, and Dawn wondered again why the hell they invited her in the first place. Oh, yeah – we didn't.
Eileen leaned forward a little, eyes wide, and began to speak in her kindergarten-teacher-voice. "Dawnie, to make the movie suspenseful, they have to make the main character really, really scared. And that means that they have to put her in scaaaaary situations." More sarcastic than usual, actually, Dawn thought. Eileen's eyes briefly flickered over to Sean, and Dawn groaned inwardly. So that's how we're going to play it, she thought bitterly. Sean raised his eyebrows a little at Eileen's sharpness and looked back to Dawn.
"Thank you, scarcastibitch," Alicia whispered next to her. Then louder, "Seriously, why WOULD you go into an abandoned antique store when being chased by something? I understood hiding in the locker; I got when she ran to her boyfriend's house; but fleeing to an old, empty store clogged with things that scare the hell out of me when it's full daylight?" She turned to Brian. "Did you see those cat-clocks lining the walls, the ones with the glowing, moving eyes and tails? Those freak me out, man. One time at my grandma's…"
"And I'm sure you'd have a better idea," Eileen interrupted sweetly. She was looking at Dawn, apparently her chosen target for the night. Oh, fantastic. Alicia nudged her supportively, and Dawn snorted.
"Duh. Anyone would."
"Enlighten us," Rachel chirped, mimicking Eileen's pose unconsciously. Such a stooge.
"All right." She walked over to the snack bar and rested one elbow on the counter. Sean turned to face her, and Dawn could see Eileen's face flush red over his shoulder. She smiled, and spoke directly to Sean.
"I'm going to cut right to the part where she's in the antique store, because we all know that it was a stupid idea to go in there in the first place, right?" Sean nodded. "Good. So, she runs in the door and then leaves it gaping open. Never do that. Doors make noises when they open, and you'll need that. Monsters can be damn quiet when they want to, you'll need all of the warning signals you can put together. In fact, throwing stuff in its path is good, if it's on your tail." She took a breath, considering.
"The next thing you need is a weapon. Now, first go for something that can wound long-range, like a crossbow or a pike or something. There were a couple of fire pokers in there as well. Barring that, go for something sharp, anything sharp. I mean," she backtracked a little, "if you know what defeats the bastard, obviously, use it. Crosses, stakes, silver bullets, whatever. But we had no clue what the movie-monster was, so we're going with the general slayage here." Sean was grinning a little wider, and Dawn began to wrap up.
"I'll guess the girl had no hand-to-hand skills, from all the tripping and the running into walls. She did that a lot, I'd think seriously about brain damage… and that'd explain the mindless antique-store choice, actually… but at the very least, she could have shattered one of the chairs. A chair leg makes a damn fine club, and even shards of wood can be really painful when you're poked with them. And you want depth here, not cutting," she warned. "Someone can bleed a lot, but if the cuts are shallow, they'll still live. Shallow cuts are no good." No good at all. She was momentarily distracted, and fought to keep her focus.
"You need to do maximum damage in very little time, using what you've got handy. The stuff my sister comes up with…" She stopped conspicuously; the sudden silence was awkward.
"Because your sister does Do-It-Yourself weaponry all the time, right?" Eileen coolly interjected.
"She's… trained." Dawn had begun to stammer a bit, convulsively swallowing her words. "She's g-good with the de-defense." Oh, hell.
"And you," Eileen purred. "I'm so sure that you keep a cool head every time you get approached by something nasty and creepy-looking." She looked pointedly at Alicia. "I could use some tips on that, if you're handing them out."
"And that, my friends, was another lesson from Eileen Davidson on how to insult friends and alienate people!" Alicia crowed jovially, sweeping an arm towards Eileen like a gameshow host. "How do you do it, Eileen? You've stunned us tonight with your wit and charm, and we can only hope and PRAY that your parting gift comes to you in the shape of a speeding bus." Eileen paled and narrowed her eyes, but Alicia was already moving on. She slung her arms around Dawn and Kirsten's shoulders, smiling sweetly at the three boys. "Boys, you know what I'm about to say, right?"
"Women's bathroom in traditional pack formation, right?" Sean rolled his eyes.
"I still don't get that," Christopher murmured as the three girls marched away, leaving Eileen and Rachel to retreat to the bathrooms in the east wing of the multiplex.
"Some mysteries are better left to gentler sex," Brian intoned wisely. Then he reconsidered. "Actually, after what just went down? Screw the gentler sex crap. Eileen and Alicia could probably rip us all new ones with words alone, and Dawn?" He raised an eyebrow. "I think Dawn could take me."
"Hands off," smiled Sean. "If she's gonna take anyone, I'm first in line."
"Well, that was refreshing!" Alicia said brightly as they joined the tail end of the bathroom line. She was still a little pink from her verbal battle with Eileen, an ongoing war that she enjoyed immensely. "I think I won that round, how about you?"
"Oh, yeah, that one went to you. So what's this make the score? Sarcastibitch 165, Defender of All that is Good and Righteous…."
"…and puppies…"
"…and Puppies, 209." Kirsten squinted into the mirror. "D'you think that she'll talk to her kids like that?"
"With The Voice? Only if she wants to be the proud mother of the world's youngest delinquents. And only if she's capable of reproducing asexually, as I sure don't know anyone who'd get it on with her." Alicia suddenly noticed that Dawn was silent. "Dawn… you okay?"
Dawn scowled at her feet. "I froze. I just FROZE out there…"
"Yeah, but with a little teamwork…"
"NO," Dawn spoke forcefully, her stomach constricting. "I shouldn't have to rely on you to get me out of these things. I should be able to do it on my own."
Kirsten looked away; Alicia just looked upset. "I – I'm sorry, Dawn. I didn't think that you would – I just…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say. She looked embarrassed, which made Dawn realize how harsh she'd sounded. Oops.
Dawn shook her head. "No, it's not you, it's from before." Kirsten and Alicia just seemed confused. Dawn tried to explain. "Back home, everyone has this thing about protecting me – it's probably because of my Mom and being the youngest and stuff, but there's these other things, too…" She petered out. "I just get irritated now, when I think someone's trying to shield me. It's irrational, and I'm way oversensitive about it." She smiled weakly. "Don't worry, I'll grow out of it, I'm just being a jerk. Sorry, Lise."
"No, s'okay." Alicia shrugged self-consciously. "Call me on it if you need to. Katie and Erin say that I do it to them, too. I just thought they were being whiny little sisters." She laughed quietly. "Firstborn thing, I guess, always bossy. And obnoxious and loud."
Dawn felt terrible. She grabbed Alicia's shoulder and turned her around. "No, Lise, it's really not you. Is it, Kirsten? I'm the one who wigged, right?" Kirsten bit her lip, but nodded.
"Yeah – Alicia, don't worry about it. Dawn's just feeling…." She looked to Dawn for the word.
"Mental." Dawn supplied. "I'm feeling mental. I AM mental." Alicia smiled a bit at that. "Look, I'm going to head outside, get some air. NOT because of you," she punched Alicia lightly on the shoulder. "I just need to rip Eileen into little bitty pieces in my head for a bit, then I'll be completely fine and ready to stay up late watching Molly Ringwald movies and eating popcorn."
Alicia's mouth hitched up a little at the corner. "Going for my eighties weakness… cheap shot, Summers."
"Nah," Kirsten laughed. "If she was really playing dirty, she'd've mentioned 'FAME'."
"Too true," admitted Dawn. "I'm saving that one for when I do something really bad, like kill her goldfish."
"You got plans?" Alicia asked, feigning shock. But everyone was smiling, and all was right with the world again.
"Joaquim is safe… for now…" Dawn tried her best to look devious and slunk out the door, shooting looks over her shoulder at her girls.
Outside, the boys had disappeared. Probably over in the arcade, she guessed. What is it with boys and video games? Eileen was glowering over by the pick-and-mix, so at least she hadn't latched onto Sean while Dawn was having her mental breakdown. Thank heaven for small mercies. Dawn was leaning against the tiled wall and trying to think of all the truly excellent comebacks she should've used on Eileen when a familiar profile caught her eye.
WHAT?!?!
No, it couldn't be. She jerked away from the wall violently, eyes glued to the dark-haired man striding across the lobby. Away from her, she suddenly realized, and immediately began to trot around the perimeter to get a better look at his face. She'd only seen it for a moment, but she could swear…. She cursed as a Tim Allen cutout blocked her path, and tried to dart around it. But the cutout wasn't alone; it was Tim Allen and a bunch of cutout… children? Midgets? A freaking FLOOR display of waist-height prop-ups. She tried to size up which one would be easiest to vault over. Damn you, little people!
"Uh, ma'am, the theatre requests that you don't touch the floor displays," a redheadeded teenager warbled, nervously holding a scrawny arm between Dawn and Tim Allen. Dawn realized her behavior had drawn the attention of quite a group of people, mostly kids and parents coming out of the Disney screening. "Theatre security, ma'am." He thrust a plastic badge in her face. WILLIAM: SECURITY. Dawn desperately watched the dark man approach the doors and suddenly didn't care how bizarre she looked.
"SPIKE!"
The man froze and started to turn, but William: Security had decided to spring into action, clumsily pulling Dawn away from her vantage point. The Disney crowds swallowed up the lone figure; Dawn called Spike's name again, now very panicked, and abruptly slipped out of William's inexpert grasp. She darted around a ticket stand and began to run in the direction of the doors, unable to see Spike but certain he was there. Don't you dare slip away now, please don't leave me, please don't...
Then she was steps from the door, and there he was. He'd stopped dying his hair; it was mussed the way she remembered, though. His jacket was still leather, but shorter, definitely different. It looked like he had some kind of sweater on underneath – but black still, definitely black. And his face. Of course, his face was the same, endlessly angular and young, blue eyes staring at her in shock.
"Nib… Dawn?" He breathed incredulously, staring at her as though she might be an illusion, she might not be real. He stepped back from her a pace, and Dawn's resolve shattered.
It was as though something inside of her had unwound or snapped, and she suddenly couldn't see for tears. Sobs began to choke her; she wandered forward blindly, arms outstretched, terrified that he'd vanish while her eyes were filled. "Spike, no! Wait!" She could feel the words jumble up before they left her tongue, which only made her cry more. "Don't leave!" For a few frantic moments she clawed the air blindly, desperation overriding every other emotion. A strangled sob ripped through her as sensed the glass of the sliding doors under her fingers. She was too late! Too late….
And then she was enveloped by the familiar smell of cigarettes and old leather, fine-fingered hands smoothing back her hair. An arm held her up as her legs gave out, and she buried her head in his neck, wound her arms around him tightly and gasped silently into his shoulder, too relieved and emotional to control her reactions. She just focused on the voice that murmured in her ear over and over.
"It's all right, Nibblet. Shhhhhhhh, now. I'm here, love, I'm here now. I'm here."
TBC
